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    Rapido raises $52 million led by WestBridge, Yamaha joins as new investor

    Synopsis

    Valuation stands at $250 million post funding, company expects full recovery to pre-Covid levels next month

    ETtech
    Bike-taxi platform Rapido on Monday said it has secured $52 million in fresh funding at a time when the mobility sector is clocking a steady recovery post the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The new round values the Bengaluru-based startup at around $235 million, post the investment, said a person familiar with the matter. This is the first fundraise for the company since 2019 when it had snagged back-to-back funding from Nexus and Westbridge Capital.

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    Existing backer Westbridge led the new round, chipping in about $30-35 million, said another person in the know, while new investors Shell Ventures, Yamaha, Cred's founder Kunal Shah, Spotify India CEO Amarjit Singh Batra and Positive Moves Consulting, also came on board. Other existing investors—Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal, Nexus Venture Partners and Everblue Management—have participated in the financing, the company said.

    Yamaha has been investing in new-age mobility players, globally and here in India. In 2018, the Japanese automobile maker had ploughed $150 million into Singapore's transportation app Grab, while locally it has backed car rental firm Drivezy and used marketplace for two-wheelers CredR.

    Rapido's co-founder & CEO Aravind Sanka told ET in a chat that the new capital will be used in brand building, hiring talent, and going deeper into existing markets across its three offerings—bikes taxis, auto services and logistics and on-demand delivery.

    The company, which competes with Ola and Uber in bike-taxis and auto services, said in a statement it is currently present in around 100 cities with over 15 million customers and over 1.5 million driver-partners.

    Sanka said that bike-taxis, which have been its mainstay since it started, continues to be 60% of its revenues with auto contributing 20% and logistics and delivery comprising the rest of it.

    "We only offer on-demand delivery to clients mostly in the food and grocery space. This segment was very small before Covid-19 but has more than doubled in the last year as we saw a major acceleration in this space," Sanka said.

    Rapido facilities deliveries for the likes of Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Reliance Jiomart, DotPe, among others. It also has a small presence in the customer facing pick ups and drops business, dominated by platforms like Dunzo and Swiggy.

    As for the bike-taxi segment, Sanka said they had seen an uptick in the adoption post the second wave, as people stayed away from using public transportation. "We hope to make a full recovery in demand to the pre-Covid level in the next month." Currently, the bike-taxi business has clocked 75% recovery, he said.

    Rapido's auto services, which it launched last year, is currently present in 26 cities. According to the company, the business has recorded a four-fold growth. Earlier this month, it said it will expand the services to Bengaluru.
    The Economic Times

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